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FEATURES OF THE NEW HISTORY: APROPOS OF 
LAMPRECHT'S " DEUTSCHE GESCHICHTE " 

Few historical writings of the nineteenth century have met, on 
the one hand with such hearty welcome, and on the other hand with 
such passionate opposition as has Lamprecht's Deutsche Geschichte. 
But three years after the appearance of the first volume a second 
edition was begun, in 1 894 ; and all through Germany the leading 
journals, magazines, and educated readers in general, joined in com- 
mending the new work. Public interest now-a-days is not limited 
to political questions alone ; it is more and more occupied as well 
with social phenomena in various other lines. And here, finally, 
was a History of the Vaterland which recognized in past centuries 
conditions and problems like those which attract most attention at 
the present time. What more natural than that it should find sym- 
pathetic readers ? Reviewers pointed out the importance it assigned 
to economic life, and discussed with enthusiasm its treatment of the 
evolution of the national civilization ; the methods used they found 
to be new, the points of view modern, and therefore acceptable. 1 This 
book evidently responded to the spirit of the day, Later, however, 
when scholars had had time to make a detailed study of the succes- 
sive volumes, appeared some of the hardest, most bitter criticism ever 
given to a work possessed of such dignity and of such guarantees of 
scientific preparation. 2 It was attacked on grounds, among others, 
of inaccuracy, of plagiarism, of wrong method, of disregard of essen- 
tial facts, and of being based on entirely wrong historical concep- 
tions. As a result there arose a conflict 3 of no inconsiderable pro- 
portions between Lamprecht on the one side and several representa- 

1 The general character of the best early reviews is illustrated by : G. Winter, Die 
Begriindung einer social-statistischen Methode in der deutschen Geschichtschreibung durch 
K. Lamprecht, in Zeitschrift fur Kulturgeschichte, I. 

2 The most noteworthy criticisms have been those by : Rachfahl, Deutsche Geschichte 
von wirtschaftlichem Standpunkt, in Preuss. Jahrb., LXXXIII ; von Below, in His- 
torische Zeitschrift, LXXI ; compare Lamprecht's answer in Deutsche Litteraturzeitung, 
XIV. 1499 5 Finke, Die kirchenpolitischen und kirchlichen Verhdltnisse zu Endedes Mit- 
telalters nach der Darstellung K. Lamprecht' 's in Romische Quartalschrift, IV. suppl.; 
id., Genetische tind klerikale Geschichtsauffassung, Munster, 1 897, 38 pp.; Hintze, 
Ueber individualistiscke und kollektivistische Geschichtsauffassung, in Historische Zeit- 
schrift, LXXVIII. ; Lentz, in Historische Zeitschrift, LXXVIL; Blondel, in Revue His- 
torique, mai-juin, 1897 ; Oncken, in Preuss. Jahrb., July, 1897. 

3 This conflict forms the subject of a short article by M. Pirenne, in the Revue His- 
torique, mai-juin, 1896, entitled Une Polemique historique en Allemagne. 

(431 ) 



43 2 



E. W. Dow 



tives of an older school on the other, in which the field, object, and 
method of historical science have been the main questions at issue, 
and in the course of which it has fallen to the author himself, to be 
the first to point out the chief aims and original features of his His- 
tory. 

Under these circumstances it is not the purpose of this article to 
add another to the already numerous criticisms of this epoch-mak- 
ing book. The task of testing in what measure Lamprecht has told 
the real truth concerning the history of his people shall be left for 
others. We prefer to try to bring together here in one view some 
of the most important lines of thought to be found in the Deutsche 
Gescliiclite, and in the conflict still going on over it, which are of im- 
portance to historical science in general and which may well be 
taken into mind by all by whom history is studied or taught. This 
endeavor involves a statement of the fundamental features of the 
work itself, and a contrasting of certain directing influences which 
it illustrates with those prevailing heretofore. 

The first edition was sent out accompanied neither by a preface 
nor by an explanatory note of any kind, with the aim that the book 
should speak for itself. 1 The author was conscious, however, that 
its underlying idea would give offense to the older representatives of 
the profession, and that he could, therefore, expect a debate over the 
principles of historical science. 2 He was not disappointed, and in 
the course of the controversy he has taken occasion to bring to 
brighter light his ideas on these principles ; 3 ideas, moreover, which 
form the kernel, the fundamental features of his History. Perhaps 
the first step toward understanding them may be taken by observing 
some of the paths followed in the preparation of the work in which 
they are embodied. 4 

First, Lamprecht read systematically the sources for German 
church history and for German history in general, of the tenth 

1 Lamprecht, Deutsche Geschichte, zweite Aufl. , Vorwort. 

2 Lamprecht, Alte und neue Richtungen in der Geschichtswissenschaft, Vorwort. 

3 See especially: a. Deutsche Geschichte, Vorwort. b. Die gegemvart. Lage d. 
Geschichtswiss., in Zukunft, February 8, 1 896. To this Fr. Meinecke made a short re- 
ply in the Hist. Zeits. , LXXVI. 530 f. ; and Lamprecht answered in Zum Unterschiede 
d. alt. u. jung. Richtg. i?t d. Geschichtswiss. , in Hist. Zeits., LXXVII. 257 f. , accompany- 
ing which is a short Enviderung by Meinecke. c. Das Arbeitsgebiet geschichtl. 
Forschung, in Zukunft, April 4, 1 896. d. Die Geschzvissenschaftl. Probleme der Gegen- 
wart, ibid., November, 1 896. e. Eine Wendung in geschichtswissenschaftl. Streit, 
ibid., January, 1897. f. Alte tmd neue Richtungen in d. Geschichtswiss., Berlin, 1896, 
79 PP- §• tV as i- si Kulturgeschichte ? Beitrag zu einer empirischen Historik, in Deutsche 
Zeits. fur Geschichtswiss., N. F., 1896-1897, pp. 75-150. 

From a close study of the last two in particular I have drawn extensively in prepar- 
ing this article. The individual references made to them in the following pages aim to 
indicate at least those instances where the indebtedness is most direct. 

4 Cf. Was ist Kulturgeschichte ? pp. 1 27 f. 



<P, 



Lamprechf s Deutsche Geschichte 433 



century ; from which he acquired the knowledge of an intellectual 
. life entirely different from that of to-day. Then supplementing the 
information drawn from written sources by a study of the art of the 
same century, he found the knowledge already acquired confirmed ; 
also that the general psychic disposition characterizing the art of 
the time was identical with that of customs and literature. Wish- 
ing, now, to measure the difference between the spirit of the feudal 
epoch and that of to-day, it soon became evident to him that the 
only way to make this difference intelligible was to follow the vari- 
ous changes from century to century down to the present time ; 
therefore he extended his task to gaining a clear view of the succes- 
sive, psychically different periods of the last eight hundred years of 
German history. Meanwhile, however, he had come to the conclu- 
sion that all these studies would remain in the air unless he followed 
at the same time the development of civilization on the material sides 
of life. The thoroughness of his researches in this direction is fully 
illustrated in the DeutscJies Wirtschaftsleben im Mittelalter. 

But could there be, after all, common foundations for the vari- 
ous classes of phenomena ? This exceedingly difficult problem was 
approached first in the field of Geistesleben ; and here, happily, cer- 
tain deeper relations were found characterizing the development of 
art, literature, religion, customs and law. It proved that in these 
domains six different periods of growth can be discovered : one 01 
symbolism, before the tenth century ; of typism, from the tenth to 
the thirteenth ; of conventionalism, from the thirteenth to the fif- 
teenth ; of individualism, during the sixteenth, seventeenth and first 
half of the eighteenth ; and finally, one of subjectivism, since the . 
middle of the eighteenth. And that which is common to all these 
periods is, that from epoch to epoch the soul-life becomes more and 
more intense ; its composition grows finer ; the passions become 
more balanced, the power of interpretation and the methods of in- 
tellectual activity more searching. Of greater importance, however, 
than this discovery was a second : that the stages found to be char- 
acteristic of the development of civilization on the side of purely 
geistig phenomena proved to be identical at basis with the chrono- 
logical divisions in the growth of civilization on the material side of 
life. So, the period of symbolism corresponds essentially with the 
industry of fishermen, hunters, shepherds and very primitive far- 
mers (occupatorische Wirtschaft) ; the epochs of typism and conven- 
tionalism respectively with two especial features of that industrial 
activity which rested in general on the growth first of collective, 
then of private property in land (Naturalwirtschaff); while individ- 
ualism and subjectivism fall in likewise with two similar stages — col- 



434 



E. W. Dow 



lective and individual — in that regime which exchanges and pays in 
money ( Geldwirtschaft. ) l 

Once this result was reached it became clear that all the so- 
called social-psychic factors must have some inner coherence ; and 
that coherence Lamprecht tries to point out, not for the entire evo- 
lution of the German people, to be sure, but for that fragment of the 
general typical unfolding covered by the periods just named. It 
appears in the fact that this fragment of the general unfolding is tied 
together through its successive stages by one common, all-pervading 
tendency ; namely, a constantly increasing intensity of the social- 
psychic life. Geldwirtschaft is a more intensive form of economic 
activity than Naturalwirtschaft. The painting of a Durer, in the in- 
dividualistic period, is more intensive than that of the miniaturists of 
the conventionalistic epoch ; and at the same time less intensive than 
that of, say, Adolph Menzel in the period of subjectivism. 

One's justification in arranging the periods according to the 
principle of a progressing psychic intensity, it is worthy of remark, 
need not rest on empirical grounds alone ; for support can also be 
found in certain general psychological facts. 2 The principle of the 
creating synthesis holds for the social-psychic as well as for in- 
dividual-psychic causality : namely, that the sum of a number of 
creative psychic activities is not identical with the product of these 
same activities ; the product is much greater. Now when a number 
of social-psychic factors, in continual activity, are arranged side by 
side, as is the case in any normal historical development, especially 
in any regular national unfolding, there must arise as a result of 
their working a continually increasing excess of psychic energy ; 
that is, historical life must move in a constantly growing psychic in- 
tensity. 

Having indicated the main paths followed by Lamprecht toward 
the writing of his Deutsche Geschichte, we may venture next on a 
more inclusive and direct characterization of its distinguishing ideas. 

To begin with, according to the announcement prefixed to each 
volume of the second edition, the author seeks to describe, by the 
side of political development, first of all, the development of condi- 
tions and of the Geistesleben ; for questions of civilization, compared 
with those properly political, are of equal, if not of far greater im- 
portance. He promises 3 to make an earnest attempt to show clearly, 

*Cf. further Lamprecht, Deutsche Gesch., III., Einleitung. 

2 See page 447 in regard to the relations of individual and social psychology to 
history. 

3 " Es wird der ernstliche Versuch gemacht, die gegenseitige Befruchtung materieller 
und geistiger Entwickelungsmachte innerhalb der deutschen Geschichte klarzulegen, 
sowie iiir die Gesamtentfaltung der materiellen wie geistigen Kultur einheitliche Grund- 
lagen und Fortschrittsstufen nachzuweisen." Deutsche Gesch., zweit. Aufl., Ankiindigung. 



Lamprecht 's DentscJie Geschichte 435 

in the field of German history, the mutually fructifying influence of 
material and spirit forces of development ; and likewise to explain 
what have been the uniform foundations for, and the steps of progress, 
in, the united development of the material and spirit factors of civil- 
ization. 1 The thoughts thus stated so compactly echo the suc- 
cessive conclusions reached by Lamprecht in the course of preparing 
his History ; and they bespeak the actual, fundamental features of 
that work. 2 

The regular factors in history, which find expression within the 
frame of national evolution, fall naturally into two broad classes : 
those which can be traced to the free-will impulses of individuals, 
and those which are imbedded in the collectivity of individuals. 
The first class is not subject to subdivision. It includes forces 
which, being diiectly related to some singular will, must be treated 
accordingly. In either lower or higher civilization, however, the 
activity of the individual is closely limited ; whether less so in the 
higher than in the lower is even still a question. Whatever may be 
found, in particular instances, to have been the influence of a great 
personality, there are whole fields of history where such influence is 
possible only to the slightest extent ; for example, those of customs, 
of so-called mythological ideas, of language, and in a certain sense, 
of law and industry. In all these directions the character of life is 
determined almost entirely by the psychic state of the collectivity 
of persons. What the individual can accomplish is little, and must 
first be assimilated and modified by the collectivity before it becomes 
_a_rjartjof real historical life. In this connection arise many fruitful 
problems concerning the degree to which the individual's activity is 
assimilated, and in what measure the social body determines the 
activity of persons ; but sure it is that strong personalities can push 
forward the tendencies of the psychic collectivity of a given time or 
in some particular place. By a specially keen understanding of the 
will, feelings and vague ideas of the social body, and by the power 
of expressing that understanding in deeds, they can assist these 
tendencies toward fuller clearness and wider acceptance. And they 
need not be slaves entirely of the drifts in the collectivity. They 
can contribute something from themselves. 

The second class of regular factors on the contrary is subject to 

1 For these features, a summary of which follows, see, aside from the Deutsche Ge- 
schichte itself, Lamprecht' s article on Was ist Kulturgeschichte ? passim. 

2 The word material should not be understood as referring to dead elements of matter 
of any kind. It stands rather for those psychic factors of civilization which are most 
closely bound up with these dead elements. One can conceive of exertions, habits, ways 
of thinking in connection with economic activities without identifying them with land, 
grains, products of manufacture, mediums of exchange, and the like. 



43 6 



E. W, Dow 



subdivision ; first of all, into natural on the one hand, and social- 
psychic on the other. Among natural factors may be named : cli- 
mate ; quality of the soil ; configuration of the land ; features of the 
locality, especially relative amounts of land and water ; natural 
scenery, and nature phenomena ; flora and fauna ; anthropological 
character, particularly the physical nature of the people. These 
are all constant, and contribute continuous influences toward his- 
torical variation. They may be looked upon as conditions, in the 
proper sense of the word. 

The social-psychic factors are to be found in the content of the 
gcistig habits of the collectivity of a given time. 1 These are not to 
be admitted as conditions, though they are usually spoken of in this 
way, but as causes in themselves (Ursachen) of historical growth, of 
that which happens ; a view not new in itself but new in its applica- 
tion by a historian properly so called. If now one but reflects on 
the quantitative value of the causal capacity in the social-psychic 
factors, on their never-ending creating of new power, he will under- 
stand clearly enough, for the purposes of this article, in what meas- 
ure they outweigh personal initiative, even that of the strongest, and 
how, out of their combination especially, go forth those irresistible 
psychic streams which rule the world. To describe these factors as 
they have been in any given time or place, it is not sufficient to con- 
struct a sort of mosaic, or schematic co-ordination of the different 
classes of facts ; it is not enough to look at them thus, as a back- 
ground, as passive conditions subject to handling by individuals. 
They are much rather to be represented as living, working forces, 
of strong causal capacity, and united in a never-ending, never-resting 
conflict. 

But after all, what are these factors ? How many of them are 
there ? How shall they be described further ? Indeed, to under- 
stand at all the real nature of these several factors, and to determine 
their number with relative accuracy, it is of comparatively little help 
to classify them under such names as moral, intellectual, aesthetic, 
religious, legal, political, industrial, and so on. Rather should each 
one be studied in the light of its origin and gradual development. 
It so happens, however, that the deeper exploration of these ground- 
elements in history can be carried to an end only with the aid of 
ethnology, psychology and physiology ; for the historian himself 
cannot work back of the time or stage of progress at which a people 
begins to look upon itself historically. At present, to be sure, the 
results are largely provisional ; but for the sake of some sort of a 

14 'Die sozial-psychischen Faktoren bestehen in dem Inhalt des geistigen Gesamt- 
habitus einer Zeit." Was ist Kulturg. ? p. 112. 



LamprechP s Deutsche Geschichte 



437 



genetic, specific classification of the foundations of historical life they 
should be accepted as a working basis. Accordingly, as social- 
psychic forces of earliest origin, corresponding to will, imagination, 
and feeling as activities of individual geistig life, appear industry, 
consisting at first purely of a struggle to sustain the species ; the 
simplest form of thinking, bound up with language ; and the most 
rudimentary expressing of the feelings, the beginnings of art. Later, 
as the individual-psychic activities become more definitely incorpor- 
ated into the social body, customs, myths and an ornamental-symbol- 
ical art are evolved ; and out of these in turn gradually arise religion 
and morals. Finally, as remoter reflections of the original evolu- 
tion-potencies, — namely, will, imagination, or representative power, 
and feeling, — appear law, science and the higher expressions of art. 

With the exception of scientific thinking and highly developed 
art, all these factors show themselves at the beginning of the his- 
torical period of folk-life, and they exist in a social-psychic unity, 
closely bound together and at all times dependent upon each other. 
Heretofore it has been the custom to emphasize some particular one, 
and to make others of inferior importance or suppress them alto- 
gether. Many have assigned the chief position to the moral forces, 
others have considered the material elements as all -determining, 
while still another large school have found the real agent of prog- 
ress to be the intellect. These views, however, are all one-sided. 
The world of social-psychic forces is a unity, and as a unity it must 
be studied and understood. There is as little right in subordinating 
the sum of forces to some particular one as in holding any one of 
them unworthy of consideration ; for no one of these forces has an 
existence of its own. A connection arising out of the most intense act- 
ing and reacting upon each other pervades them, while at the same 
time the product of this inter-activity is itself subject to the influence 
of similar products of the past and in turn acts as a cause for the 
future ; and therefore none of them can be left out of account in 
efforts to determine the character either of any particular factor or 
of all together at a given time. 

Since the product of these factors forms a unity, it is the fac- 
tors all together which vary from epoch to epoch ; and their vary- 
ing can be subjected to periodization. The periods as arranged for 
German history, have already been described. 1 But further, Lam- 
precht looks upon his arrangement of civilization-epochs not as 
peculiar to the evolution of the Germans ; they promise to be as 
well, mutatis mutandis, the typical stages for other peoples. 2 It 

1 See pages 433, 434. 

2 Was ist Kulturg. ? p. 130. 



43§ 



E. W. Dow 



may be asked, however, what scientific guarantee is there that these 
are the true periods for one people, to say nothing of all. Is their 
succession an unalterable historical law ? What value, in general, 
can be assigned to them ? So far only empirical and psychological 
considerations have been offered in view of these questions. 1 For 
a more substantial answer we must examine the method employed 
in determining the periodization agreed upon. 

In conformity with the proposition that the determination of 
typical, social-psychic stages of development has throughout the 
character of a statistical induction, 2 Lamprecht has employed the 
method of statistics. If, then, the periods of civilization he describes 
are those reflected in statistical tables, they are worth no more than 
any well determined statistical rule ; they can be characterized by 
only such laws as the logic of the method permits ; that is, rules 
possessing almost the nature of laws, true .only in general. But 
these rules are not lightly to be passed over because of their incom- 
pleteness, for they have a certain specific value. In every statistical 
observation, one has to distinguish between the constant and the 
variable ; he recognizes that permanent causes lie below the one, 
transitory under the other ; and the generalizations he makes seek 
to express correlations among the phenomena in question, and to 
indicate therewith the causal connections. The method being en- 
tirely inductive, he has but to descend successively to deeper and 
deeper levels in order to reveal more fundamental relations, and 
each constant interdependency discovered is a step toward an ex- 
plaining of the final, fundamental bond. Statistics, in establishing 
the fact of connection between phenomena, lays the foundation for 
search after the deeper causes of these connections. Such is the 
role of this comparative method in any field where, in the midst of 
complicated inter-acting forces, specific successions can be shown to 
exist. So in biology, there is no law known that such or such an 
acorn must grow into an oak tree ; but under normal conditions it 
will. Likewise with the periods of social-psychic evolution ; no 
people has to go through these stages, but if the development is 
normal each one will. In biological science men have already 
worked long to determine deeper causes, and to frame empirical 
laws. Lamprecht enters in his Deutsche Geschiclite on similar ques- 
tions for the historical field. It maybe freely asserted, however, 
that whatever generalizations are found, whatever solutions are 
reached, whatever fundamental forces are revealed, the end will not 
be disclosed ; the last cause will remain as much unseen in the his- 

!See pages 434, 435. 

2 Was ist Kidturg. /p. 133. 



Lamprechfs Deutsche Geschichte 



439 



tory of men as it is in the history of plants and animals. Neverthe- 
less we have the satisfaction of knowing that that which may be dis- 
covered by this path will have such value as can be imparted by 
pure induction ; that it will not be deduced from irrational hypoth- 
eses. 

There are left now two other questions in regard to these reg- 
ular factors : First, granted that they exist in a unity and in con- 
tinual interdependence, can their mutual relations be more exactly 
stated ? If, indeed, one puts aside the theories of the older schools 
concerning the autocracy of intellect, or of moral or " material" 
forces, his first impression as to the deeper connections is that the 
material and geistig groups move along side by side without being 
bound into each other by any particular ties that are susceptible of 
direct proof; in relations, therefore, similar to those between body 
and spirit, between matter and life in general — a sort of psycho- 
physical parallel. On this view rest some occasional considerations 
in the first volumes of the Deutsche Geschichte ; but the author 
recognizes now that they are not tenable. The relations between 
the individual factors are neither so simple nor so inexplicable. 1 

In any given, highly complicated mass of varying inter-activi- 
ties, the typical stages of development extend severally to just those 
limits within which may be discerned the highest level of a particu- 
lar sort of civilization. The characteristic elements of the different 
stages, however, need not necessarily reach every part of the social 
body of the time. Only in the primitive ages of undifferentiated 
national life, when there is relative homogeneity of the mass, does 
it seem that this can occur. Later, on the other hand, when new 
elements move out as a rule from the higher classes, they can exist 
for centuries without reaching the entire people. So in none but a 
limited sense can the periods of civilization be given a chronological 
character, namely, according to the sway of specially characteristic 
factors. In certain classes of the society, psychic elements of 
earlier stages may live on and never yield to others. The different 
periods have, therefore, no distinct boundaries ; they are rather 
dovetailed into each other. The most ancient types live beside the 
youngest ; the most highly cultured have neighbors struggling only 
for a living. 

The oldest social-psychic factors, then, must always have the 
strongest influence, for of them alone is it to be presumed that they 
pervade the whole civilized body, and that their activities — varying 
to be sure with the successive stages of evolution — must, since in 
themselves they never die, have higher and higher value as time 

1 Was ist Kulturg.? p. 138. 



44Q 



E. W. Dow 



goes on. Consequently, the oldest social-psychic factors — those, 
that is, which are bound up in industry, in language, and in that 
class of general aspirations out of which art, for example, arises 1 — 
have for every epoch in history an imperishable meaning ; there is 
no social-psychic phenomenon, of the lowest or highest degree of 
civilization, in which their working cannot be discerned. The 
earlier stages of progress they control predominantly ; it is a recog- 
nized fact that then customs, morals, and law depend, far differently 
than in a higher stage, upon the industrial life of the time. In later 
periods, however, the significance of these primitive elements moves 
gradually into the background, not because they are weaker, but 
because they are hidden more and more by the advancement of cer- 
tain geistig factors. 

Finally, considerations such as these point to a second ques- 
tion : By what road or roads do the new products, the new elements 
of civilization, reach the different parts of the social body ? The 
possibility of their gradual assimilation is to be found in the con- 
stantly progressing organization of the civilized body. Clearly the 
social-psychic factors do not work, in general, directly upon each 
other ; but only indirectly, through the medium of the social or- 
ganization. In a further defining of this medium, 2 then, lies the 
answer to our question. 

The development of the social groups is really only another side 
of the differentiation of the social-psychic factors ; whence it follows 
that the most primitive social group is that natural group bound to- 
gether solely by the tie of language. Perhaps, however, just as old 
are the earliest industrial bonds. Gradually the geistig bonds come 
into prominence, and there appear festival associations, organizations 
for worship, and finally churches. These are all of primitive root, 
while the higher groupings in geistig social -psychic life, resting on 
common artistic or scientific possessions, belong (as complete pro- 
ducts at least) to a time of more individualistic civilization. The 
typical latest formation of all the primitive organizations, and at the 
same time the highest, is that of the law, and for the maintenance of 
law the State. Moreover, since the State is the highest social or- 
ganization, it is also the most general ; and, where evolution is normal, 
appears in co-ordination with the sum of the natural group-forma- 
tions, the Nation. Since the State is the last and most general organ- 
ization, it includes all other groups, and has the duty of representing 
them outside of the nation, together with absolute power over them 
in so far as provision for this representing is concerned. Naturally 

1 " Streben nach Erhohung der psychischen Eindrucke. " Was ist Kulturg.? p. 140. 

2 Was ist Kulturg. ? pp. 141-142. 



Lamprecht 's Deutsche Geschichte 



441 



this power extends its influence inwardly as well ; and for that reason 
all social group-formations strive on their side to work upon that 
influence just as the State is exerting itself upon them. In conse- 
quence, the State holds that central position which it takes in his- 
tory : It is the medium through which all social force-strivings or 
tendencies act, whether these go out from itself or from other or- 
ganizations. 

The regular factors in historical life, then, appear and grow within 
the nation. They are the natural, the individual, and the social- 
psychic. These, however, do not constitute the whole sum of influ- 
ences to which any given people may be subject ; for evolution goes 
on also under the working of certain general or world-tendencies. 
When the civilization of one nation is brought by any means into 
contact with that of another, there is an interchange of influences. 
It may be by the processes of a renascence or by some action be- 
tween peoples of the same period ; in any case historical develop- 
ment is largely determined in this way. 

So far we have tried to point out some of the characteristic fea- 
tures of the Deutsche Geschichte ; and at the same time to bring them 
into the light of Lamprecht's own explanations. This has been 
done mainly with the hope that by such means certain ideas might 
be introduced and in part explained, which, though bearing ample 
fruit in many quarters, are apparently not yet recognized widely 
enough by students and teachers of history. In attempting a further 
exposition of these ideas it seems best at this point to extend the 
circle of thought so as to include a view of the essential differences 
between some old and new tendencies in historical work. 

One of the first impressions coming from a look in this direction 
is, that after several decades of criticism and study of details, we are 
gradually coming into another period of generalization. But this 
does not express the fundamental changes in progress during the 
last two decades. There will, indeed, always be a place for critical 
scholarship ; under no circumstances can "the establishment of the 
facts " be dispensed with, nor the methods of work that have grown 
up with it. Historical scholarship, however, with all its machinery, 
and history, in the proper sense of the term, stand for entirely differ- 
ent things. The first is a tool, a means to an end, for the latter as 
well as for several social sciences. Men will never quit looking for 
the different bearings of known facts, among others their historical 
bearings ; and so trials will always be made to discern by what 
roads and through what experiences the world of men and of na- 
tions has come to be what it now is. The old and new tendencies, 
then, for which we are searching, must be only in the field of his- 



442 



E. W. Dow 



tory proper. But still further limits can be set to the region where 
we may expect to look for them with success. 

It has been the custom of late to make such distinctions as the 
following : Formerly there was an attempt to write general history, 
while now-a-days one studies nations, or one particular line, like 
the history of art, of religion, or of law ; formerly more attention 
was given to political facts, now more to economic influences ; 
again, idealistic conceptions have been gradually yielding to posi- 
tive, materialistic views of human happenings. The last example, in 
particular, is not only inadequate in its explanation, but indicates 
besides an especially unscientific spirit. For whatever truth may be 
found in some of the current stock antitheses, certainly those which 
rest upon a difference of philosophic theory should be entirely dis- 
carded. There can be no truly scientific historical work which is 
inspired by such views — idealistic, positive or whatever else they 
maybe. History is properly — though the fact is, alas, too little rec- 
ognized — an inductive science, 1 and its progress depends not so much 
on the classes of facts it may incorporate or renounce from time to 
time, as on the degree in which it adopts, develops and applies induc- 
tive methods. From the point of view, therefore, of differences in 
method let us compare the old and the new tendencies. 

When history had once added to its annalistic functions the duty 
of observing the sequence of facts, and had begun to ask after the 
why, it freely applied the principle involved in the question : What 
is the object in view ? The object was adopted as the cause. More- 
over, the ends sought were always particular, individual, of concrete 
nature ; they led from fact to fact. It was the rule, for example, in 
the last century to refer that which happened, in so far as it was 
rationally explained at all, back to isolated, single acts. The prin- 
ciples of personal object and of individual psychology were applied 
to the whole field of human activity. 2 Evidently, to proceed thus 
is to draw all forms of. causality into one class. Against this view, 
the idea of causality in general has been slowly gaining ground. 
The principle of end-in-view can clearly enough be applied as cause 
in a large proportion of human phenomena : those, namely, in which 
the action is connected especially with individual motive, is thought 
out, is already planned. But just as clearly is there a great propor- 
tion of human phenomena in which no particular object is involved. 
The individual acts, often enough, without thinking at all. There 
is, indeed, an immeasurable field of customary, generic happenings 

1 Cf. Lamprecht, Alte tind nene Richttmgen, pp. 3,4. 

2 This point of view has now few or no defenders in theory. In practice, however, 
consciously or unconsciously, it is still frequently occupied. 



LamprecJiVs Deutsche Geschichte 



443 



in which, since all people act in essentially the same way where the 
conditions are the same, the individual factor in the deed recedes 
completely into the background. How explain such phenomena by 
the end-in-view ? Rather must the causal tie, pure and simple, be 
here brought into service. 

From these considerations it appears that the historical method 
may properly fall into two divisions, corresponding to two sides of 
historical research : one dealing with the singular; the other with 
the general ; the one individual, the other collective. 1 Not that the 
two are ever clearly separated ; on the contrary, they are always 
amalgamated, whether it be in the line of art — one should distinguish 
between the artist and the style — literature, law, industiy, politics, or 
in any other field. But since the two methods are so generally and so 
closely bound up in each other, their respective limits are only the 
more likely to be disregarded. True, much blame has to be laid 
on each of them. Whatever may be said against the teleological 
principle, the causal certainly has at times borne down the scale too 
low on its side. Yet, when followed with such precautions as the 
very nature of the material prescribes, how endless seems the possi- 
ble application ! For only one condition accompanies its use : 
that the last determined causal relation shall be in harmony with all 
those previously known. The progress this principle has already 
made may be seen partly in the complaints of some representatives 
of the older school ; 2 partly, again, and to more advantage, in the 
relation it holds to the evolutional studies which form so prominent 
a feature of recent historical work. 3 In fact no one can write his- 
tory from an evolutionary point of view, unless the facts can be 
bound together causally so that the representation of them may 
proceed in chains of reasoning whose several links are tied together 
as by necessity. 4 The teleological view goes from the facts back to 
some motive ; but there is nothing absolutely necessary thus 
brought out, for each motive in the chain may have resulted from 
free-will decision. History written after this manner must be prag- 
matical, while the evolutionary representations, on the contrary, are 

1 " Individuale, erainente Handlungen werden immer durch im Sinn des Zweckbe- 
griffes verlaufende Hypothesen miteinander zu verkniipfen sein. Handlungen dagegen 
und Handlungskomplexe, welche sich als einer bestimmten Lebenshaltung gewohnlich 
angehorig characterisieren, mithin generischer Natur sind, werden der Aufhellung durch 
Hypothesen bediirfen, die von der Annahme eines kausalen Verhaltnisses ausgehen. 
Demgemass treten als die beiden Seiten geschichtlicher Forschung Personen- und 
Lebenshaltungsgeschichte, individuale und generische oder kollektivistische Geschichte 
auseinander. " Alte ti. netie Richtnngen, p. 6. 

2 The recent historical controversy in Germany furnishes several illustrations. 

3 See K. Breysig, Ueber Entwickhmgsgeschichte, in the Deutsche Zeitschr. fur 
Geschichtsiviss., N. F., 1896-97, pp. 161-174 and 193-211. 

i Alte u. neue Richtungen, p. 9. 



444 



E. TV Dozv 



characterized by the widest possible causal conception of that which 
happens. 

The significance of the use of purely inductive methods appears 
to good advantage in their application to the phenomena of consti- 
tutional law. 1 The practice of the older school has been to picture 
the conditions of a given period by systematic arrangement of par- 
ticular categories of facts ; and then, when the succession in time of 
several such social states has been shown, by the medium of juridic 
thinking — by a formal road, that is — to trace the descent of the 
different categories of later from those of earlier conditions, without 
considering that every single tracing of origins should have regard 
for the united, inter-dependent life pervading each social state. 
The new, evolutional historical research, on the contrary, aims to 
show rather the development-tendencies lying at the basis of each 
particular institution. The formal garb of the institution, up to late 
years the preferred, almost the only, subject of study, takes a 
secondary place; its structure is seen clearly enough as soon as a 
deeper study reveals the several evolution-movements which con- 
dition that structure. The chronologically arranged pictures' of the 
constitutional conditions give place to the representation of a per- 
manent stream of industrial and other social transformations, whose 
mutual relations at any given time determine the contemporary social 
organization. Nor does this mean that the work of description should 
be given up. It will indeed always have its place, namely, to show 
what was developed at such and such a period ; therein, however, 
lies only a part of the historian's mission. The evolutional method 
is more intensive ; it wishes to determine the real components of 
social life, and then to understand that life better by following the 
mutual relations and changes of these components. 

Nevertheless, not all members of the older school have limited 
themselves to such work as that of the descriptivists. A consider- 
able number of those writing from the individual, from the political 
point of view in the narrower sense, have tried to go to the root of 
things, to show what essential factors have been at work in history, 
and to refer that which happens to their activities and mutual rela- 
tions. The most notable of these in the present century is the 
great master himself, Ranke ; and to this day he seems to be the 
patron saint of a widely extended cult. If, now, we follow his dis- 
ciples to their shrine of shrines and study their innermost thoughts, 
the difference between the earlier and the later tendencies will ap- 
pear still more striking. 

Without attributing to Ranke any particular philosophical sys- 

1 Cf. Lamprecht's review of Inama-Sternegg"s Deutsche Wirthschaftsgeschichte, II., 
in the Jahrb. fur Xationalokonomie tmd Statistik, 1895, LXIV. 294 ff. 



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Lamprechfs Deutsche Geschichte 445 

tern, it can be said that his. historical thinking centers fundamentally 
about two points, 1 an idealistic view of the world, in the sense of 
the Identitatsphilosophie \ and a universalistic conception of history, 
essentially in the sense of the cosmopolitanism of the classical Ger- 
man literature. 

He was conscious of a God who is hidden to the world but who 
at the same time fills it all ; a God whose relations to us are mysti- 
cal, not to be understood by the reason. He manifests himself in 
man ; the actions of man are determined by a mysterious Being ; so, 
further, the products of human action are manifestations of that 
Being. All history is at basis a divine mystery. The world of 
everyday life with which we stand in immediate relation and to 
which the reason can be applied, is one of appearance, not the real 
world. 2 Closely associated with these views is his idea of universal 
history. In the actions of men, and of nations or states, must be 
found that which is general. The actors must all be studied to dis- 
cover in what degree they express divinely originating powers which 
work through them. Individual, nation and state are agents of a 
world movement ; and in so far only do they form the real material 
of history. Such, in brief, are the general hypotheses of Ranke's 
ideology. Furthermore, the mediating powers — those, that is, 
which while acting in the world are connected in some mysterious 
way with God — are the " ideas " which Ranke was always telling 
about. They are "the objective ideas," " the higher potencies," 
"the powers born in the elements and holding them together," 
" the general ideas that bear in themselves the life of the human 
race," "the powers of the living Geist which move the world from 
its foundations ;" they " have in them that which is divine and eter- 
nal ;" they are " the thoughts of God in the world ;" " they are life- 
giving, are life itself, are moral energies ; " " though not to be de- 
fined, they can be perceived;" "they unfold, take their place in the 
world, come forth in the most varied forms, combat, limit and over- 
come one another. In their acting and reacting upon each other, 
their succession, their life, their passing away and coming again, lies 
the great secret of history." 

It is hard to detect here much of the scientific spirit of to-day. 
No matter how high the value ascribed to Ranke, he remains the 
child of another age. To him the phenomena of the historical 
world are not explainable through forces inherent in its being and 
activity ; for him the task does not consist in characterizing, always 

1 Compare, for this discussion of Ranke, Lamprecht's Ideenlehre tind die Jungrank- 
ianer, and the references there given ; No. II. in Alte und neue Richtungen. 

2 " Der Welt der Wahrheit steht eine Welt des Scheins gegeniiber, die auch in die 
Tiefe geht und immer tieferen Schein entwickelt, bis sie in die Wesenlosigkeit ausgeht ; 
jene endet im Wesen." Ranke, Gesam. Werke, LIII.-LIV. 570. 



446 



E. W. Dow 



more closely in consequence of ever more intensive research, the 
expressions of these forces, and in tracing them wherever possible to 
simple inherent unities — finally back to a few agents. To his mind 
the aim of science is not the unification of the elements of knowl- 
edge, but rather the determination of a large number of special 
movements, each of which results from the action of some particular 
" idea." 1 Moreover, be the reasons what they may, on the eve of 
the twentieth century there are still circles of influence where, to a 
greater or less degree, Ranke's way of thinking prevails. Fre- 
quently enough one reads of the geistig factors as the only working 
forces ; of the others as conditions, pure and simple. Notwithstand- 
ing great discoveries in causality, in the world of Schein, teleological 
proofs still flourish. But against this irrationalism rises, stronger 
each year, an entirely different spirit. " I can very well think of a 
world," says Lamprecht, " one part of which appears to me as intel- 
ligible, while another part I must characterize as non-intelligible ; 
under the condition that the problems of this latter are to be solved 
in the future, even if a late, perhaps endless future." 2 Further, as 
for general history, to the modern school the Rankian point of view 
is unthinkable. Some time one may be able to make trustworthy 
generalizations in the universal realm ; but for the present historical 
research, like that in the natural sciences, is more intensive and ap- 
plies itself especially to national development, in the hope of discov- 
ering there the simplest components of historical life. It holds that 
the fundamental elements do not consist of the actions of eminent 
persons, nor of the deeds of states as such ; but rather of those fac- 
tors which, taken all together and in their varied mutual relations 
and transformations, form the Kidtur of the time. It sees the gen- 
eral currents moving along in a succession of periods of civilization. 
It seeks the typical stages which appear regularly in the unfolding 
of each nation, and looks upon the different peoples as bound to- 
gether in world-history by a network of influences between the 
civilization of the various nations in their typically recurring stages 
of evolution. Each folk will receive from others into its own cur- 
rent those factors which it is at the given period able to assimilate, 
and may even bring that which it receives to higher perfection. 

In view of the foregoing statements, two prominent tendencies 
are to be observed in the historical science of the last few genera- 
tions. One of these, that of the older school, may be called indi- 
vidualistic, descriptive, political, since its representatives have been 
especially those who maintain that the political field is the proper 
one for history. Its essential characteristics imply an emphasis of 

1 Alte tt. nene Richtungen, pp. 43-44. 

2 Alte u. neue Richt., p. 73. 



LamprechVs Deutsche Geschichte 



447 



eminent persons, of the state, and of man in general. The other, 
that of the younger school, now rapidly advancing, is collectivistic ; 
while recognizing the part played by individuals, it emphasizes first 
of all the activities of natural associations, the highest being that of 
the nation-state. Have we noticed clearly enough, however, what 
are the real foundations of the differences between these schools, and 
whether the one method is not, after all, a complement of the other ? 

It seems to be pretty well agreed that psychology must be taken 
as the basis of historical science, in fact of all the Geisteswissenschaften, 
in much the same way as mathematics is for the natural sciences. 1 
But this being so it follows that the progress of these sciences de- 
pends in large part on the progress of psychology. Just here lies 
the explanation for which we are seeking. The old psychology, in 
so far as it was empirical, was individual psychology ; it looked upon 
man in general as a great abstract individual, the folk as a sort of me- 
chanical aggregate of persons. Out of it grew the theory of the 
social contract. On such ground rested historical writing in the 
days of Schlosser and Ranke ; and in many respects that of the older 
school, though often unconsciously, perhaps, still rests upon it. 
The individual with them is the main subject of research ; and some 
even go so far as to say — Schafer, 2 for example — that only the per- 
sons of special importance are, properly, to be considered. The new 
psychology, on the other hand, has taken an entirely different atti- 
tude ; more and more it has turned toward generic research ; and 
while the explanation of the simpler psychic phenomena may still be 
left to the old method, the solution of many especially involved 
problems is, in part at least, sought through social-psychic studies. 

With this change are brought to light new fields for historical 
research ; new causal relations can be established, and an evolu- 
tional record drawn up. For it appears that just as a consciousness 
of a harmony differs from that of the different tones composing it, so 
when a greater or less number of human beings feel something, 
think something in common, the feeling or thought of all together 
is different from the sum of individual feelings or thoughts that enter 
into its composition. In each case the product of the whole in- 
cludes something qualitatively new. In the one instance we call it 
harmony, in the other it may be, for example, public opinion, or 
patriotism. Given this law and its operation on society, it is clear 
that every social organization must be constantly creating a certain 
product over and above the sum of the activities it embraces, and in 
so far we have to reckon with a factor in social-psychic causality for 

1 Compare Was ist Kulturg.? pp. 77-87, and the references there given, especially 
those to Wundt and Paulsen. 

2 Geschichte und Kulturgeschichte, 1891, p. 60. Compare also his pamphlet on Da 
eigentliche Arbeitsgebiet der Geschichte, 1888. 



44S 



E. W. Dow 



which individuals in themselves are not responsible. Why call such 
factors supernatural? Why class them as irrational "ideas?" 
Moreover, is it not evident that in dealing with social formations 
the historian must recognize forces in reference to which the value 
of any one person is identical with that of his associates ; that to the 
extent to which individuals unite in producing one of these social- 
psychic elements, they are regular, typical ? But at the same time, 
also, irrespective of their typical value, shall he not credit at least 
many individuals with historical significance of their own ? In 
truth, not all consent to the view indicated ; there are those still who 
see at basis the singular, not the regular. The common nature 01 
all scientific work should be kept in mind. By analysis we de- 
termine the characteristics of each object or phenomenon ; by syn- 
thesis we try to bring data into their proper relations, to discover 
their associations, their causal connections. The natural sciences 
began earlier to practise sane synthetic thinking, and so are far ad- 
vanced to-day. For historical science to adopt it with the same 
heartiness does not necessarily mean to adopt the methods of natural 
science ; it means, rather, adopting the true methods of science in 
general. The so-called collective school are seeking now the evo- 
lutional, causal relations ; they are trying to synthesize. But there 
is plenty of room for the individualists as well. Whatever the 
rational has not yet conquered, must be subjected to further 
analysis ; and especially in the realm of purely individual free-will 
activity, the descriptive workers can find ample opportunity to sup- 
plement the results of synthesis. 

^ To summarize briefly, the new history takes into account all 
the activities of man as a social being ; political phenomena are 
neither the only facts to be considered, nor the state the element 
for which alone all others exist. It recognizes as the essentials in 
historical life certain natural, individual and social-psychic factors, 
whose nature, transformations and mutual relations form the civil- 
ization of any given time. The new history — and herein lies its 
really fundamental feature — holds to the principle of describing the 
human past from the point of view of rational evolution. It asks 
not "Wieist es eigentlich gewesen ? " but "Wie ist es eigentlich 
geworden ? " It aims to go as near the beginning as art or science 
can tread ; and studies to find the typical stages of development for 
each nation, together with the currents of life running between the 
different peoples. By adhering strictly to inductive methods, it 
hopes to trace at last just how the world of men and of nations has 
grown into what it is to-day and so to put into the hands of philos- 
ophy trustworthy, scientific conclusions. 

Earle Wilbur Dow. 



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